Free at last!
by Baren
Summary: Takes place weeks after the Eclipse Gate event. Gray notices something odd with the guild, and soon finds out it's because the lack of Juvia worshipping. Though later into the day the Ice Make mage comes across something quite shocking... could it be that she's finally gotten over him? Second Story.
1. Chapter 1

It was a few weeks later after the eclipse incident and everyone was still worn out both emotionally and physically about the whole thing. This might explain the unusual silence today. Unlike the usual brawls that would break out, usually caused by the dragonslayer Natsu and ice make mage Gray, things were fairly quiet today. In fact, some people might say too quiet...

Gray was one of those people.

Juvia was nowhere to be spotted today. Unless she suddenly got extremely well with in stalking him, Gray had not seen her at all today; to be honest he didn't mind that much but no matter how annoying she could be sometimes, the water-mage was his nakama nonetheless. So he couldn't help but worry about her a bit. In fact the ice-make user even went as far as asking Mirajane; now that he thinks about it that had been a huge mistake as the oldest takeover sibling misjudged the whole thing and started talking about Gruvia or something... to him it kinda sounded like his own name Juvia's combined...

Weird.

After that situation Gray felt a bit discouraged about looking for the blue haired woman, so he decided just to wait and see if she would show up eventually. The best way to distract himself from such things was to get into a fight with Natsu,

The dragonslayer was more than pleased to kick his ass, but Gray wasn't just about to let him beat him down just like that.

**_TIMESKIP _**

_'What'_

That was all that was going through Gray's mind. He just had a hard time believing the sight that was before him... Juvia... and another guy. It was night time, and Gray was just heading home after a long day of the good old Fairy tail till he saw Juvia in the distance at a local cafe. She was sitting down, seemingly drinking some sort of beverage served there. Curious about what she had been doing all day, Gray decided to go and talk with her. Even if it meant he would have to deal with her shenanigans, the Fairy Tail mage would be lying if he said that he wasn't curious. But once the spiky haired male got closer, he could see someone else sitting with her.. a man, to be exact.

The guy had blue hair, the same blue as Juvia's hair. From his clothing Gray guessed he was some sort of traveler... plus the fact that he never seen him around town before. Wherever he was a mage or not Gray couldn't tell. The two seemed to be having one hell of a time, Juvia was silently listening to the unknown male and once he finished speaking, she would happily add on to the conversation.

She had a huge smile on her face, one he never seen before. It's true he had seen her smiling a lot... but... the smiles the water mage made, seemed in some way more natural.

Wait a moment, why did he care?

He turned his back to the scene and continued on his way home... why did he care if Juvia was on a date with another guy? Wait, he didn't care. In fact good for her! Maybe she would stop with her childish acts now and that was good news for him!

Good news...

Yeah...

He was now free at last.


	2. Chapter 2

It was a new day in the town of Magnolia, like your cliche wonderful day birds were happily chirping on top of buildings, the sun was shining, and the townsfolk brightened up the atmosphere through the many streets that resided in the said town. From just walking around, one would instantly catch the wonderful sea of emotions filling up the town, making them happy just to be alive.

Gray wasn't one of those people.

The Ice-Make mage had black bags under his eyes, a sign that he hadn't gotten a lot of sleep during the night; or any sleep for that matter. Gray also had the same clothes he had on yesterday, since he had slept with them the mage's clothing were just all rugged. To top it all off the male in question had an unusual smell coming from him... making the people that came near him twitch their noses in disgust.

_Why._

_Why._

_Why._

**_WHY!?_**

Yesterday night was suppose to be one of the best moments of his life. The moment Juvia finally got over him. So why was he feeling so damn under the weather?! Was it possible that Gray hadn't realized that true value he had for the water mage? And seeing her with another man finally gave him the reality slap, that she wasn't gonna wait for him forever. That he needed to get over his secret fear of getting close to someone past the nakama relationship because he might once again feel the same hurtful pain the mage had felt when he had lost his parents?!

_'... Haha, no'_

The thing Gray was feeling could easily be explained. He just didn't know what it was yet, but it was certainly not that, "Just my mind blabbering on..." the ice-make user tried to reassure himself. Though he had been so concentrated in his thoughts, that the spiky haired male hadn't realize he had cross all town and was now right in front of the guild doors.

The Ice Make mage smiled, "I'm sure some few hours in here will help me forget this." Gray muttered to himself, confidence behind his words. Whenever he was feeling a bit down, a few hours in here would always cheer him up. But as he got closer he could hear some excited chatter coming from inside, and once he opened the doors he came to the worst scene possible right now.

That man. In his guild, and Juvia sitting happily right next to him.

Everyone was crowding around the table, and by everyone he meant everyone. While some of the female members talked about who the new guy was, the male members were glad to have some new opponent to fight. Apparent they were all to busy to even notice Gray or the large doors opening for that matter.

"Wow Leo! You've really seen a dragon?" he could hear some girl asking him, probably Lucy from what he could tell. Natsu was right next to her probably also wondering if what he just heard was real.

The guy, who now he knew the name of, answered her question "Yeah, it was just from a distance though. But no doubt about it!"

And then a whole new conversation started, though what he couldn't stand was that Juvia was sitting right next to him awfully close with a huge smile on her face. It wasn't like he was jealous or anything, though. Just that some part of him thought... you know what? No. No more thoughts about this crap. As quickly as he could the ice-make mage walked towards the job board, ripped a random piece of paper from it, and quickly left the guild.

Though as he was a few feet away from leaving, he heard the voice of someone calling out to him, "Gray sam-!"

Gray banged the doors loudly before she could finish that sentence, though.

Everyone stopped, to look at who had left. Though if it had gotten Juvia's attention it was pretty obvious who it was, the man known as Leo looked down at Juvia, "Was that the Gray-sama you are always talking?" the traveler asked with an eyebrow raised.

"Yeah, he seemed mad though..."

Everyone knew Gray enough, he would get some steam off and be back to normal. So after those few moments of silence they instantly began to barrage the traveler with questions again. Though Juvia looked at the doors that Gray had walked out off with a sad expression...

_'... Please, come back soon...'_ Juvia was tempted to just follow him. But she knew Gray was someone that didn't really like to express his feelings, and that blowing off some steam by himself was probably better then anything she could do. The water mage was as surprised as anyone who could hear her thoughts, but after the Eclipse Gate event... to be honest she really can't look at him in the face without breaking into tears.

Despite everything working out in the end, it had been her fault... because she brought her childish acts onto the battlefield and didn't pay attention, Gray had died! The blue haired woman just couldn't find it in herself to talk to him like she used to before that event, not without seeing the horrid scene of her most loved one being shot to death by those beams.

All because of her.


	3. Wait, what?

"Gray-sama"

the spiky haired mage couldn't believe himself quoting the all so famous nickname for him; the one that had been given to him by Juvia. He didn't like it when she called him that though, yeah he eventually grew used to it but sama was a way to call your boss or someone in charge, afterall. So it just didn't make any sense to him...suddenly a whole barrage of questions that he had never even thought of before came barging into his head. Making the mage ruffle his hair in annoyance, as he sat on a pile of currently beaten up bandits which he had fought with, per the request of the job he had grabbed. Man, he just didn't believe he was thinking of such things now of all times. But Gray had to admit it, taking out all his frustration that he had gotten from seeing Juvia with... that guy... with violence made him feel awfully better. His hands were slightly bruised, but overall he was better.

It's not like he was jealous though. But something just seemed wrong about that guy... to him at mage just had a bad feeling about him ever since he had first laid eyes on him. PErhaps he was an enemy mage, and had Juvia under some spell! Or! Maybe that guy was an old Phantom Lord member who was trying to recruit Juvia back into that guild. Okay, yeah, Phantom Lord had broken up and Juvia would have sent him flying already if that was the case... but what if he was both?!

And that's enough of that, 'Shut up brain,'

Thoughts went to other matters, much more trivial then his previous ones. He began to think about how amusing it was that jobs were getting much more easier these days, one mage could easily K.O a group of bandits now. Either bad guys were getting weaker, or the mages were getting stronger. But the recent weakening in the power of dark guilds, bandits, and all those other bad guys could be explained by the fact that the Balam Alliance had lost two of the three guilds which were apart of it, Oracion Seis and Grimoire Heart. Leaving only Tartaros, but there were rumours about the last dark guild not even existing.

As Gray stood up, stepping on a few heads and other parts of the body which belonged to the bandits the Ice-Make user smiled a bit, glad that he had gotten his mind out of those confused thoughts, But suddenly like something out of a movie a thought that had been swimming around his mind, but that he had chosen to ignore suddenly escaped from out of his mouth,

"Juvia,"

**_LINEBREAK_**

"Achoo!"

Juvia Loxar suddenly sneezed, making her companion Leonardo who was right besides her look at the blue haired woman with a worried look on his face, "You okay? Ain't getting a cold, are you?" the male asked in a tone which didn't do anything to hide his worryness. Thoughts instantly began to form about her getting cold, giving him no choice but to stay and take care of Juvia till she felt better. But of course this wouldn't happen if she didn't come into contact with cold water all the time... it didn't matter if she used Water Magic!

The water user in question shook her head, a pleased smile on her face rather than any signs of sickness showing, "No, Leo." she walked up ahead and got ever so closer to Gray's apartment, the water mage wanted to cook something for Gray so that her crush could had something to eat once he got back from his job. So pretty much just do the usual, this wasn't the first time she did this. But Gray didn't seem to mind it and if he did, Gray was doing a pretty darn good job in hiding it, "Just means Gray-sama spoke my name,"

Not a single hint of doubt was heard in her tone. Her fellow blue haired raised an eyebrow in confusion, though he decided not to question it and simply change the topic, seeing it as the smartest action to do at the moment "Okay then."

The traveler suddenly got in front of her, the height difference being obvious between the two as the male quickly pinched her nose lightly, signaling her to stop. Which Juvia did. Just like when they were kids, "So, you sure it's okay we break into the... sama guy's house?" from what he knew of, breaking and entering was a crime. But then again what the hell did he know? Leonardo admits that he wasn't up to date with the laws these days.

"Sure, i do it all the time."

Leonardo sweatdropped, wondering why on earth she had said that in such a casual tone, "Don't say that like it's not creepy..." the mage started to wonder if she was used to doing these kinds of things nowadays? If so, he needed to have a serious talk with her... but enough of that for now.

The taller mage tucked his hands into his pocket, suddenly the mood getting a bit more serious. Juvia instantly knew what he was about to ask, making her mentally plead to some higher power that he wasn't about to ask her the question she couldn't answer, "So, got an answer yet?"

Juvia suddenly started to walk faster, but her fellow blue haired kept up in pace as he awaited for an answer from the water mage. Leonardo looked at her with his onyx colored eyes, wondering if he would be getting an actual answer from her this time. He frowned slightly though when Juvia turned to look at him and tilted her head to the side "Answer? For what?"

The traveling mage rolled his eyes, "You know, Juvia. About going on my travels with me!"

But his question would once again go unanswered. With ease she opened the window of Gray's apartment and went inside, not even caring that passerbies were looking at the two. Leonardo sighed in annoyance but the blue haired male followed Juvia inside... wondering why the hell he was doing this again.


End file.
